Experiencing Technical Difficulties; Please Stand By

You've got to be of a certain generation to remember this image!

Hint: it was usually accompanied by a very loud, sustained BEEEEEEEEEEP that made you run across the room to turn down the volume as quickly as possible. Gen X and older kids WERE the family remote control.

Also usually accompanied by the message "We're experiencing technical difficulties, please stand by."

Technology can trip us up. Oh, we're able to do a lot more Very Cool Stuff now because of technology, but we either master it or it masters us.

One of my new year's resolutions was to be more proactive and intentional with my calendar. I don't know about you, but it feels like a large majority of my time is spent scheduling meetings - that email and text back-and-forth that so often results in nothing getting finalized. Or you DO get it finalized and then you have to determine WHERE you're going to meet.

So, I invested in, what I think, is a pretty nifty scheduling tool. You just sent a link and it shows the recipient when you're available, they select a time and it pops the meeting on your calendar! 

Especially handy because it syncs with your calendar and shows all your available time.

You already see where this is going, don't you?

Two different colleagues and friends pinged me this week with "Hey! Let's get together!" Both live in different countries. I said, "Hey, help me test out my Pretty Nifty Scheduling Tool - here's the link!"

They both selected times - independent of each other - and, Pop!, there it was on my calendar.

Except . . . 

I wasn't available. 

Had a conflict that I had not put in my calendar. Something I knew about and was very conscious of, but I just hadn't entered it. 

Tech Is Only As Good As We Make It

In fundraising, we now have a platform or software that will do just about anything. You can even hire a robot to 'handwrite' your thank you notes. What a time to be alive . . .

But they're only as good as you make them. The old addage of database management - garbage in/garbage out - is true and all the whistles and bells and fancy automations aren't going to make your fundraising better, or revenue increase, unless there's a commitment to actually use the tools.

Moves Management, for example.

Nearly every CRM has a moves management component - some feature that will tell you at what phase of the cycle a major gift prospect is - identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, acknowledgement, etc.

If the major gift staff isn't committed to entering that information, the functionality is, essentially, useless.

Or platform integration . . . 

MOST systems will, in some way, integrate with other applications - for example, your digital marketing platform. The top fundraising CRMS have direct partnerships and integrations with either MailChimp OR Constant Contact (or other great tools). A lot of times, though, the integration isn't turned on, isn't functioning or just isn't maintained. So, the list management features don't quite work.

Which means you get a lot of "Dear Friend" emails, because the personalization on the record isn't transferred to the mail platform.

Or you get a lot of duplicate solicitations and donors have already given continue to receive solicitaitons.

Un-Used Tech Has Costs

Let's use that list integration process as an example. SOME systems allow for direct list management from the CRM to the mail platform.

In other words, you pull a list in the CRM and it remains dynamic, updating in the mail platform as donors renew. If they renew, they're not on the list any more. (NOTE: not all have this; some require some manual engagement to ensure that responding donors are removed).

SO, the lists aren't maintained or the integration isn't in place. You pull a list of renewing donors. Donors renew. YAY! But then they get the next 10 emails in your renewal sequence. Now they're a little peeved because they already gave, but continue to get the renewal sequence.

The NEXT time, they remember this and think, "Well, you didn't know I gave the last time, so I'm not going to renew."

Not saying that is WHY donors don't renew, but it could be.

Tech, when used well, helps us remove those barriers that might tell donors we don't really know them.

And if they stop giving because our tech tells them we don't know them . . . that's actual dollars lost. Fewer donors/less mission. 

And Technology is only as good as we are in updating it, using it to its potential . . . and recognizing that taking care of the technology that underpins our fundraising IS Donor-Centered Fundraising.

Own It

If your tech goes bad, it's best to own it. "We're so sorry - that was an issue we caused with our database and we're fixing it. We apologize!"

I apologized to my friends, thanked them for their help and we got the scheduling all done. 

But it would have been better to know how the tech worked and made good on my promise. Same with donors. Don't let technology make you reactive; learn how to use it proactively.

p.s. WOW! I'm so grateful that so many of you signed up for email updates - and called out that the last blog didn't get updated by email. Tweaked some settings and hoping this one does. Also realized that my website gathers emails in three different locations and each one lands somewhere differently on the back-end. Working through that and setting up some different paths to make it more clear. Please stand by.